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El 







DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



A. SERlVLOlSr, 



PREACHED IN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 



IN 




aJTESAT^T" lMIIjir'OrLX>, O 



April 23, 1865. 



BY 



REV. DAVID MURDOCH, 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



oiin.., 



^t^MILFORD : 
NORTHROP'S OA^LLERY OF ART, 

1865. 



j.;^^g ia)'OQoooit>QQiiS)^iQ,pg)jj),p^g ) Qg 





DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



JL SERiVtON, 

PliSACHED IN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHUPX'H 

IN 

April 23, 1865. 

BY 



R i; y . DAVID MURDOCH 

/I 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



MILFORD : 

INTO RTPI K. OP'S G^i^I^I^ERY OF A. TIT. 

1865. 



Er45n 
,8 



A SERMON. 

r. 

AMOS VIII. 0:10. 

" And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause 
the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. 

"And I will turn your ft^asts in'-o nioiiruini?, and all your songs into lamenta- 
tion ; and I will hring up sackcloth uj)on all loins, and baldness upon every head ; 
and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a 
bitter day." 



II. 
PSALM LXXXIX. 19. 

" I have exalted one chosen out of the people." 



III. 
JER. XLVL 28. 



"Fear thou not, .Jacob my servant, saith the Lord ; for I am with thee; for I 
will make a full end of all the nations whither 1 havediiven thee; but I will not 
make a full end of thee, but correct thee iu measure ; yet I will not leave thee 
wholly unpunished." 

Like a thunder clap out of a clear sky came tlio intelligence, 
a week ago ye.«tGrday morning, that Abraliam Lincoln, President 
of the United States, had been killed by the hand of an assassin. 
Never, probably, in the history of mankind was tliere such a sud- 
den revulsion from joy to sorrow produced within so many hearts 
as that which was caused by those i^ew words, which vibrated 
through the land — "jTAe President is dead.'" Conspicuous above 
all other men on this continent — if not throughout the civilized 
world — he had been lifted up to an eminent position, to be a 
leader and governor in the grandest work of the age. The cjes 
of all men were upon him. The hearts of the good and the just 
and the true were with him. From the golden censcir which 
contains tlie prayers of tlie saints, fresli incense was constantly 
ascending to the mercy seat in his behalf. And we may truth- 
fully affirm that the death of no other man of this day could Iiave 
caused such sensation in Christendom as did his death. Yes ; 
when Abraham Lincoln bowed his head and gave up the ghost, 
it was as when the standard-bearer of a mighty host fallcth. Is 



it «rt— all •c-vaggci ' aiiv» > to say : Xo man had ever so many 
mourners ? 

What a week has the last one been to the dwellers in this 
land ! A mighty nation has bent in grief! The sable symbols 
of bursting hearts have been hung out everywhere ! In sack- 
cloth and ashes what millions have thronged God's altars ! Each 
day has been like a Sabbath ! The ways of commerce and trade 
have been deserted ! Men have moved about as though the day . 
of doom had come — stunned and bewildered over the strange 
thing which has come to pass ! God has made the nation to 
drink the wine of astonishment ! We have been as those that 
dream! And it will be many days yet before the peo[)le shall 
have waked from their trance to tiie sad reality, that he who has 
been a prim e and a father to them during these years of awful 
trial is with them no more. It is no small nor common grief 
which pierces the heart of this people; and it will be long ere 
that grief shall have spent its force. There is nothing like a 
common sutTering to soften and weld human hearts ! The sur- 
vivors of the wreck : the few of the forlorn hope who come 
through the breach ; the last hundred of the besieged, whose 
numbers have dwindled from thousands to scores, by being par- 
takers in a common calamity, are forever bound together by a 
cord of sympathy and fellowship which cannot be broken. And 
we who have been in the ship during these awful storms, and 
seen how she has labored and fought the tempest, and after 
nights of darkness and hair-breadth escapes, has at last come 
safely through — can we see our good pilot, who has been with us 
in these perils, and stood at his post so faithfully, and held the 
helm with such a strong and wise and steady hand, suddenly 
stricken down and swe[)t from the deck, without Uicling tluit we 
have sulfered a great loss, and without lamenting with a great 
and sore lamentation ? 

No. I. Thank God! it is not in huuian nature not to mourn 

* 

in such circumstances. Black is the day that saw him cast down 
from our midst ! Accursed the hand that. raised itself against 
his venerated head ! Sad and bitter is the thought that honest, 
great hearted Abrahaiu Lincoln sits no longer in the seat into • 
which the people once and again lifted him with such glad 
unanimity. A bereaved and orphaned people mourn and shall 



continue to mourn him as for a (rreatly esteemed and dearly loved 
father, the like of whom tliev shall never again look upon ! Yea, 
he shall have no second place! Equally with the first '■^Father 
of his country'''' shall his memory be cherished in the hearts of 
this and future generations! We do Washington no injustice 
when we place by his side Abraham Lincoln — the Father of a 
regenerated country! 

How, as in a moment, was our joy turned into mourning,! 
Justly were we glad in what God had done for us. For we had 
waited long for the desired consummation. Bow many times did 
our host set out for the rebel strongho'ld, only to turn back un- 
successful and dispirited. The last and greatest campaign had 
accomplished nearly a year of varied fortunes and vast expendi- 
ture of life and treasure. The Almighty at last ha9 given us a 
captain of the right temper, a man of iron will, who, having once 
put his band to the plow, never looked back. His cool sagacity 
a';d tenacious purpose, backed by the abundant resources of a 
people lavish of their gold and more precious sons to save their 
country, was at lengtli crowned with triumph. The strong city 
fell, the rebellious host was dispered. and the head of the serpent 
treason crushed beneath the heel of the victoi-ions Grant. Then 
arose the shout of the conquerors — poeans of praise and loud hal- 
lelujahs to the God of our salvation. The heart of tlie President 
was attuned to the melody which went forth from the soul and 
mouth of the people. He rejoiced with a joy unspeakable. The 
nation, with him at the head of it, was stirred as the heart of one 
man in view of the great deliverance which Jehovah had accom- 
plished for us, and Te Deums and doxologies went up to the 
heavens as great clouds of incense. 

But alas ! Who shall fathom the divine counsels or foretell 
what a day shall bring forth? In the very noon of our jubilee, 
with the CQiblems of gladness waving in the vernal sunshine, tlie 
clouds suddenly return, and the shadow of death cloaks the sym- 
bols of rejoicing*! Base treason and cruel malice are permitted 
to do their work, and the fatal blow descends which is to trans- 
form a jubilant people into a nation of weepers! Is it not in- 
deed, so that the thing has come upon us, which was spoken by 
the prophet ? 

" And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, 



that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken 
the earth in the clear day. And 1 will turn your feasts into 
mourning-, and all your songs into lamentation ; and 1 will bring 
up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head, and I 
will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof 
as a bitter day." 

An event so sudden and sliocking in character, so public and 
wide-spread in its elTects, so singular and anomalous in American 
history, of course attracts tlie largest attention of our inhabitants. 
We are all eager to arrive at the true interpretation of this sad 
tragedy, regarded in the light of a providential dispensation, 
having an important bearing upon the present and future history 
of our country. In other words, the question presses on the mind 
of the intelligent christian citizen, what improvement shall be 
drawn from this latest page of the history of God's providential 
dealings with us as a people in these latter days ? I shall at the 
present time endeavor to indicate, in several distinct propositions, 
what seem to my mind some of the prominent lessons which we 
are taught by it. 

I. It becomes us to consider the life of the great and good man 
whom God had exalted to a position of comma^iding influence, and 
hich has come to a termination. 

For Mr. Lincoln was no common or mean man, estimating 
manliness according to any just or proper rule. Wlsen party 
heat shall have cooled, and men shall have suffered themselves to 
look at the man just as he was, without interest, passion or pre- 
judice, they will not have accorded to hiin less than this. The 
judgment of mankind will agree in making him high among the 
greatest who have been called to a part in our public affairs. 
He did not claim for himself, and no one else that I know of 
claims for him, great genius, eminent brilliancy of intellect in 
any one direction, powers ol" mind such as astoni.-^h and [is. the 
gaze of men on the one possessing them. His excellence did not 
consist in these, but rather in a balanced and symmetrical cha- 
racter, in which every nuinly (luality finds a fair and pro[»i>rti(ni- 
ate dcveh)i)mont. If there was any point in which, above all 
others, he exctdled, we woidd say it was in the clearness of un- 
derstanding by which he was able to apprehend a subject, and 



lay it out before the comprehension of other minds. No man 
ever talked plainer or more convincingly tlian he. He saw the 
strong points of an argument at a glance, and kept tliem steadily 
before his mind, and put them so transparently and aptly belbre 
others that there was no room for misunderstanding or refutation. 
It was this characteristic of mind, in connection with the fact tluit 
lie was in the i-ight and thoroughly sincere, which gave him the 
advantage over his (perhaps) equally skillful antagcmist in the 
memorable political canvass in which, though unsuccessful in 
securing his election to the United States Senate, yet, through 
the fame and admiration which it won for him among the people 
of the country, was, in my estimation, the chief instrumental cause 
in raising him to the Presidency. Remembering how magnifi- 
cently he had championed the anti-slavery cause on that high 
field of gladiatorship, the people were more than willing to com- 
mit their cause into his hands, believing that whatever wisdom 
and honesty were able to accomplish could be entrusted to noue 
better. And in all his state papers while in power, in whatever 
he has said or written^ although wanting in the grace and rheto- 
rical eifect which belonged to the productions of an Everett or a 
Clay, they bear the same marks of plain, homely, downright 
common sense. When once he had spoken in a controversy every 
one felt that there was very little to be said in reply, and, if my 
memory serves me, there were very few attempts ever made to do 
so. He had but little polite or elegant learning. His mind was 
not stored with ancient classic lore, (and we should not disparage 
these, for they would have been an advantage to him had he 
possessed them,) but be had studied the history of his country 
and its government ; he was versed in the great controversy 
in which he has borne so prominent a part in settling. He was 
honest and conscientious in adhering to the line of right. And 
he spoke out his earnest thoughts to his plain backwoods country- 
men, and by so doing he was raised from point to point of public 
trust, until he stood on a level with kings and mighty men ; and 
albeit he had split rails and sailed a flat-boat for a living, he was 
the acknowledged peer of the loftiest of them all. 

Who is there to-day who remembers with shame and regret 
tliat we have had a man sitting in the Presidential seat, who was 
once a day laborer and soiled his hands with honest toil ? Show 



8 

me the man who talks of Abraham Lincoln's plebian bivtli, and 
blushes to think that under Democratic institutions, it is possible 
for one beginning so low, to climb the ladder up to the topmost 
round; and I will shew you the man, of whom all true, honest 
and right thinking minds are themselves ashamed, and who does 
not deserve the honor of living in a land, where sterling worth 
and honest industry, and upright purposes win the prize, but 
sh.)uld be transported to European or Asiatic shore, where men are 
only born great, never become so. The lile of this nran starting 
from such Immble beginning, and by dint of industry and persever- 
ance, reachicig such height, is itself, a great sermon preached to 
the young men of America, and the highest eulogium to the ex- 
cellence of the institutions, under which they are permitted to 
live. There is much in the life which has just been brought to 
such a tragic termination, worthy of our most earnest considera- 
tion. 

He was one whom God exalted and chose from among the peo- 
ple, to whose hands was to be committed the cause of the people, 
in the most important and perilous crisis of our history. A man 
of liumble origin, he began by touching life at the lowest point. 
He knew what it was to be poor, to work hard, and live frugal- 
ly. Thus he could sympathize closely with the masses of his 
countrymen, was thoroughly acquainted with their condition, 
knew well their interests and was fitted to represent them. 

He had the simplicity and naturalness of a child. He wanted 
to go for just what he was worth ; there was notiiing aftected, or 
put on, which he did not possess. If there ever was any better 
example of the couplet 

" Princes and Lords are but the breath of Kings 
An honest man 's the noblest work of Gud." 

I don't know where to find it. 

God's patent of nobility was upon him. And tlic i)oople echo- 
ed the voice of God, wlien they gave him the title of Honest Abra- 
ham Lincoln. ' 

And just as truly as God raised up ]\Ioscs, and educated him to 
be the Leader of his chosen tribes, so was this man trained and 
fitted by liim, to take his i)hice at the head of this people, and 
gni le them forth out of the house of bondage. 



And it was iu virtue of liis intimate fellowship willi tlie people, 
that he was capable of being a true exponent of their will, neith- 
er going too far in advance, nor lagging in the rear, but ever 
keeping abreast of the popular wave. It was owing to this, under 
God, that he achieved such measure of success in his work. 

Plere we may not dwell, however. 

III. In the murder of the late President, we have afforded a sig- 
nal exhibition of the barbarous, cruel and laioless nature of that sum 
of all villainies, which has well nigh caused the ruin of Republican 
institutions on this' continent. 

Although there have been and still are good men and women 
implicated in the system of slavery, who would not afford any 
countenance to such outrageous crime, yet, it cannot be doubted, 
that the tendency of the system is to develope a state of society, 
in which such monstrous growths shall be by no means rare or 
infrequent. Witness for instance, the numerous murders, a?sassi- 
nations, street-encounters and general insecurity of life which 
have prevailed for years in the southern states ; the manifold and 
nameless cruelties which have been perpetrated on Union men, 
Union prisoners during the continuance of this war ; the common 
talk of the streets, hotels and railways, concerning the preven- 
sion of the constitutionally elected man from taking his seat, by 
ruthless murder : the advertisments in some of their public jour- 
nals setting a reward on his head ; their attempts to waylay and 
kill him, while passing to the Capitol, in 18(il ! .Can any intel- 
ligent, candid mind behold such savagery and not start back with 
horror, from a condition of society which breeds and tolerates 
such atrocities as these ? With the unburied body of our slain 
President passing through the laud, and his Secretary of State, 
together with his son, bearing the brutal marks of the dagger 
and slung-shot, and a knowledge that a like fate was prepared 
for the remaining heads of government— so that, by one murder- 
ous swoop and in one fell niglit, government sliould be dethron- 
ed, and anarchy and rapine sieze the reins, scattering everywhere 
terror, dismay and devastation.^ With these exhibitions staring 
uci iu the face, in addition. to former proofs of its barbarity, shall 
we still talk in soft and jionied phrase about the mild and patri- 
archal character of the peculiar institution ; excusing, and exten- 
uatin"' its evils as but incidental and foreign, and not organic 



10 

in the system itself? Shall we come down again to bargain and 
compromise with such a horrid beast of prey, who is utterly in- 
capable of being tamed or humanized ? Thank God, we have 
got by that ! We have seen the teeth and claws of the mon- 
ster, too long and too often, to think any more of toleration. — 
With one voice the people now demand that he be exterminated — 
tl)at slavery be torn up root and branch, and not one shred of 
the accursed thing left to pollute the soil on which none but free- 
men should ever have been planted. We are cured, at last, of 
all compromise with such iniquity ; or, if we are not, we deserve 
to be forever bereft of God, and goodness, and damned to eter- 
nal infamy, with the In-and of Cain upon our forehead. For at 
what a vast cost has the Almighty been teaching and educating 
us up to this point? What further proof would we have that the 
vile thing is only evil in all its parts and members, and that con- 
tinually ; and tiie cup of its righteous destruction filled to the 
brim and running over ? No ! we can no longer hesitate ; we 
shall put it away far from us ! 

III. Can there he any longer a doubt within any believer in a Di- 
vine Providence, that the taking away of our executive head, at this 
time, and the investing another hand loith the reins of authority, is 
almost of the nature of a revelation, as to the policy to be employed^ 
with respect to the leading conspirators in this unholy rebellion^ 
which has drenched the land with blood? 

I know well it becomes mortal man to be cautious how he 
treads on this holy ground; to beware how he presumptuously 
affects to put God's voice into God's acts or permissions on such 
an awful theme ; but there is an equal if not greater danger on 
the other hand — of being deaf and disobedient to the loud com- 
mandment of Jehovah. There is sucli a thing as Justice under 
God's just reign, and woe be to that people who forget this — 
♦' The voice of thy brother's blood crietli unto me from the 
ground," was God's voice out of the heavens. Can we hear 
no such words, to-day, coming from the Lord God, who reigns 
on high? Does no voice of blood of brethren ascend from our 
soil into the ear of the Lord of hosts? And if iJe hears that 
voice and commands iis to pause and listen, also, shall we be 
guiltless, if we fail to give heed to hig warning ? Saul was de- 



throned and set aside for another man because he spared Agog 
alive, contrary to God's command ; and God's prophet Samuel 
wheu he went to announce the sentence of deposition to Saul, in 
his righteous indignation against such disobedience, and full of 
zeal for God's justice, took a sword and hewed Agog to pieces. 
Is there no lesson here for rulers, who are in danger of pursuing 
forbearance until it ceases to be a virtue, and becomes a crime, 
instead, and of bearing the sword, put into their hands, in vain ? 
Will our all clemency ever be a terror to evil doers, and a praise 
to them that do well ? 

Let us beware of the leaven of a false theology here ; a system 
which ignores justice and speaks only of mercy ; which sees no 
sufteriug God atoning for sin, and tlius makes sin but a trifling 
aflair. For were we not on the brink of such a fatal gulf? — 
Good as our late President was, may not this have been his 
greatest defect — the disposition to shrink from punishment of de- 
served crime, leaning too much to the side of mercy, and thus 
bearing the sword in vain. I do not afiirm, absolutely, that th^s 
was so. I claim no infallible power where vvitli to interpret the 
divine acts; but, on studying this matter in these intervening 
days, examining it in the light of God's book of providence and 
ids book of redemption, I must say, that it seems very like a mo- 
nition of God's providence to this effect; and t!ie conviction that 
it is so, only grows the stronger the more it is pondered. It is 
said, that the proclamation of a general amnesty was already 
prepared and ready for promulgation — that liberty to leave the 
country was given to certain leading insurgents, on the very day, 
on the evening of which the fatal bullet was sped. And if these 
things were so, it looks very much as though God had said, 
"Nay! my servant Abraham. Thy work ibr me on earth is 
done — well done, good and faitliful servant, thou hast been 
faithful in that which I have committed unto thee; but 1 liave no 
Jonger need of thee there — enter into thy rest and joy " — 1 have 
another servant, ready to take thy place." 

Neither is it in any spirit of venueance or cruelty tliat we 
would interpret this signal interposition of the ilivine hand. 
There is but small danger of our government or people taking 
any unholy delight in the sufferings of their enemies. There has 



12 

been no sucli disposition manifested hitherto, notwithstanding 
there has never been so great provocation toward such a feelmg. 
Never have enemies been treated with such leniency and mag- 
nanimity since men warred with each other. The* North lias 
been merciful and forbearing to a fault. The word tyrant and 
oppressor has been used respecting Mr. Lincoln, but men never 
believed in what tliey said when tlius speaking. Tlie thing itself 
has never been seen among us. For examples of despotic tyran- 
ny, cruelty and lawless crimes, we must go over to the other side. 
Notwitlistanding tlie many and signal proofs of treason which 
have appeared against thousands ; proofs which would have be'en 
j^l B wi -l- t to have brought heads to the block in any other country, 
the first drop of blood has yet to be shed by the federal govern- 
ment of those convicted of this ci'ime, or by an indignant people, 
impatient at a lardy justice, and talcing tlie law into their own 
hands. Is there any danger in such a people erring on the side 
of vengeance? Do they need to be exhorted to acts of clemency 
and mercy, or to be reminded that mercy herself is degraded 
from her heaven-born position when unsupported by justice? 
That God who is merciful and compassionate above all other 
beings, is at the same time most just. That while he forgiveth 
ini(]uity, transgression and sin, he will by no means spare the 
guiltv, except in conformity with the claims of justice. 

And what although final pacification be delayed thereby ? 
Have we forgotten our own oft-expressed wish that when the 
settlement comes to be a right settlement— a complete and per- 
lect adjustment, once and forever, of the matters in dispute — 
ihat there be no more patching and curing lightly the hurt of the 
nation, but that the knife be driven into the bottom of the wound, 
, ;!ud the poison wholly scraped out? Is it a time now to cease to 
1 ememl)er so essential and vital a treatment of our nation's dis- 
irdcr? ]s this to do justice to the memory of our slain heroes? 
Let us make thorough work rather. Let us be inlluenced with 
:i holy jealousy, lest love and longing ibr peace bcli'ay us into 
v/cak or unwise measures, wliicli will only bring back our j)aiiis 
isnd (;i)en again our loo hastily closed wounds. Let us remember 
llie heavy bonds under which we have come since Apiil, '01, to 
finish this thing. 



I 



13 

[ iV. In our national grief and lamentation over the sudden fall of 
our Chief, we need to guard against any despondency as to the fate of 
the Republic, and distrust of God's power and iciUingness to bring us 
safely through all our troubles. 

After such au experience as lias been ours lor the hist four 
years, to despair of God's help, while going onward and doing 
right, is the greatest of crimes. As clear as to Israel of old 
comes the voice of Jehovah from the tliiek clouds, to this people : 
"Fear not, Jacob my servant: for I am with thee: for I wMl 
mg-ke a full end of all the nations: but I will not make a full end 
of thee." 

What hath God wrought ? No fiction so straiige as the facts 
which God hath been setting before our eye's ! No mind among 
us was more thoroughly penetrated and supported by this in- 
spiring truth than the mind of our late chief magistrate. He 
saw and recognized the outstretched hand of the Omnipotent One 
over us for good. And it was this divine vision which cheered 
and held him up in the darkest moments. . And could he speak 
with this people to-day, from his exaltation, it would be with 
the same truthful and hopeful words, with the same humble and 
confident faith in God's guidance which characterized his last 
public utterance, on taking anew the oath of ofiice. Yea ! Out 
of a clearer vision and a more complete assurance of the truth 
then announced, he would but add emphasis and strength to tliat 
inaugural address. 0! in our martyred chieftain let this people 
to-day recognize a prophet of the Lord— speaking to them the 
very truth of God out of the heavens ! 

! what marvellous things hath God done among us ! What 
a history have we been passing through! What a time it is ours 
to live in ! What pulling down and raising up have we seen ! 
What a shaking of elements and overthrowing of foundations ! 
Change! Change! Change! To-day one man up, to-morrow 
another! I will overturn, and overturn, and overturn, saith the 
Lord ! Where is the man that knoweth the mind of the Lord, or 
being his counsellor hath taught him? 

One short month ago who could have foretold that Richmond 
would have fallen, Lee be a prisoner of war, and his host dis- 
persed and vanquished — Jefferson Davis a fugitive on the lace of 



14 

the earth — and Abraham Lincoln a sheeted corpse, borne amid 
the tears and sobs of a mourning nation to his Western grave? 

What do these wondrous things mean? "Be still, and know 
that I am God." 

let our confidence be this — 

The Lord of lio?ts is with us: the God of Jacob is our refuge ! 
Let tliere be no despair in our grief. In wisdom and love God 
hath done this. Every succeeding step in thi; tragic scene but 
reveals divine justice, wisdom and grace. The false fabric built 
|0l^ lies, and framed in iniquity, is overthrown. Babylon is fallen. 
Tlie gigantic criminals are wretched vagabonds beneath the full 
blaze of God's just eye of vengeance; and although the man ex- 
alted by Him, and chosen out of the people, is here no more, God 
has translated him to nobler seats and services. 

Yes ! let us thank God for it . better, far better, is it to-day 
to have our noble martyred dead President bearing such a record 
than to have a living, flying, perjured, traitorous and blood- 
stained fugitive, such as he is who yet breatlies the breath of life 
amid the ruin and wreck of his vaunted confederacy ! 

We are willing to let Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis 
go down together to posterity, and let the people judge them. 
We rejoice that He who sitteth supreme in the heavens is the 
true and righteous Judge, and will strike the balances between 
them both. 

Li the day of righteous settlement, we have no fears that 
Abraham Lincoln^ true, just, honed Abraham Lincoln will be found 

wanting. 

" slow to unite and swift to spare 

Gentle, and merciful, and just 
Who in the fear of God, didst bear 
The sword of power, a nation's trust 

In sorrow by thy bier we stand, 

Amid the awe that hushes all, 
And si)oak the anguish of a land 

That shook witii horror at thy fall. '^ 

Thy task is done; the bond are free ; 

Wo bear thee to an honored grave. 
Who've nolilest monuincnt shall be 

The broken fetters of the slave. 



15 

Pure was thy life ; its bloody close 
Hath placed thee with the sons of light 

Among tlie noble host of those 

Who perished in the cause of right. 

Low in the dust our martyred chieftain may lie, 
His fame immortal, now shall never die ; 
The name of Washington has found a peer, 
Father and Snviour hence we both revere. 

V. If there was wanting any event to complete the demonstration 
of the last four years, that the American people are a nation, and it 
a mere Confederation of States, and that the government founded by 
our sires possesses the elements of durability, this last act in the trag- 
edy of blood has supiplicd it. 

How sublimely have the hopes and vaticinations of tyrants 
and aristocrats been cast down! 0, ye titled names, ye crowns 
and mitered heads, where now are your prophecies ? And thou 
thundering London Times, art thou not proved a false and vaunt- 
ing blusterer, made to lie down in the dust and eat thy lying 
words ? Where now is the wise man — where is the scribe — 
.where the di?puter of tliis world ? He who hath held us in his 
right hand has made the diviners of the old world mad ! He 
hath taken the wise in their own craftiness ! Who will believe 
these proud prognosticators now ? 

Republican institutions lack stability, do they ? The model 
Republic is but an experiment, is it? When the strain and 
rack of the storm comes, like a weak-timbered, top-heavy ship 
she will go down, will she ? Now, now, take your answer I — 
Your airy theories have had their trial ! 'Wmm, when did ship 
of state encounter such tempests, live through such hurricanes, or 
come forth more proudly from the seething waters ? 

Look at the vessel whom yon expected would be, long ere this, 
but a shattered hulk, drifting like a log on the tide. Yea ! see 
her and tremble for your own thrones and coronets ! She rides 
the billow buoyant, erect, triumphant, not a sail, or mast, or spar 
lost ! From her peak floats the same flag with which she sailed 
into the fight ! Every stripe is still there. Oount the stars, you 
will find not one vanished .' On their field of blue, like the stars 



16 

of the firmament, they are shining out with fresh lustre and 
glory before the eyes of the nations ! <xs^ 

Yes! look at that banner! We always Ji«re proud of it — we 
are prouder than ever of it now ! It had a glorious meaning 
before — for it was the flag which waved over the heroes of Bun- 
ker-Hill, and Yorktown and Saratoga! It has a deeper signifi- 
cance than ever in our eyes ! Its colors speak a new language 
to our hearts, to-day ! The Red tells us of the blood of our brave 
boys and martyred chief, in which it has been re baptised ; the 
Blue speaks of the truth and loyalty of the sons and daughters 
of the Republic, which have never swerved nor fainted during 
the conflict ; and the White reminds us of the purity, the righte- 
ousness, the freedom attaching to the cause of which it is now 
the emblem I It is thank God, now, indeed the flag of the brave^ 
the true, i\\Qfree ! On tlic distant Pacific shore, on the slopes of 
the Rocky mountains, on the inland seas of the West, from the 
Mississippi source down to the gulf, up the coast, over Sumter 
and Savannah, and Raleigh, and Richmond, that dear old flag 
now flings out its folds and tells an astonished and admiring 
world, — that there ^s no government on earth so stable, so enduring, 
so beneficent, cs that planted in the intelligence, the esteem, the choice 
and the affection of the iieople ! And at this announcement tyran- 
ny shall tremble and the people rejoice! 

This is the greeting of a renovated and purified American Re- 
public to the nations, to-day! Abraham Lincoln's blood has 
consummated and sealed the message ! 

No ! we are an experiment no longer. The American nation 
is among the most thoroughly proved and well-tried facts of the 
world, now. We have gone through tlie ordeal. The hand- 
writing on the wall is not as some had loudly hoped — " Thou 
art weighed in the balances and art found wanting." Our mis- 
sion is not fulfilled. God has a place and a future for us yet. 

His language to us is; — "Fear thou not, Jacob, my ser- 
vant; for 1 am with thee. I will not make a lull end of thee; 
but correct thee in a measure." 



hIVIy'l3 



